


Settled Suspicions

by EmilyArmadillo



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Canon Rewrite, Episode: s01e25 Usual Suspects, Gen, Reveal, Secrets, Team as Family, barely there plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:08:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28653261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmilyArmadillo/pseuds/EmilyArmadillo
Summary: The team, their daemons, and their secrets.
Relationships: The Team (Young Justice) - Relationship
Kudos: 21





	Settled Suspicions

Dick's daemon settled when he was only nine, on that day. She's a Somali Thrush, a black and gray songbird the size of cupped hands. She tucks her yellow beak into Dick's chest, and he hides his face in her feathers.

Bruce Wayne takes them in. His daemon is a flying fox almost as large as the child. This might seem conspicuous, but denial is a powerful force. Anyone in Gotham could tell you with certainty that two residents of their city have large bat daemons: Batman and Bruce Wayne.

Like the boy wore bright colors in the field, so did his daemon. With red armor strapped to the bird's beast, it is understandable she was mistaken for a robin, so that's what they were both called.

* * *

Kaldur was always curious about the surface world. But if he had hoped his daemon's form would guide him, above or below, he was let down. In Kaldur's twelfth year, his daemon settled as a red-bellied newt. While most amphibians live in the water when young and on land when grown, adult newts can live on land or in water. Kaldur and his daemon still had their choice of paths ahead of them. Land or sea, the 8-inch newt would cling tightly to the strap of Aqualad's tank top.

* * *

Wally's daemon settled before he got his powers, so she was speeding around before he was. She was a golden hummingbird, frequently little more than a yellow blur by Wally's head.

No one was sure what Kid Flash's daemon was. Too fast.

* * *

Cadmus knew they had succeeded in creating a viable clone when a daemon appeared. It floated in stasis, changing as the Superboy dreamed. The daemon settled several hours after Superboy was 'born'. At the moment he chose freedom, she became a large, white wolf.

As a white canine, the similarity to Superman's dog daemon was obvious, but the Man of Steel himself could only see the differences: the Wolf's shaggier fur and longer teeth.

* * *

Martian daemons never settle. When M'gann establishes her civilian identity, she committed to a cotton-top tamarin, the same type of monkey as Marie Logan's. As Miss Martian, her daemon shifts all the time.

* * *

The Crock sisters' daemons settle on the same day. Jade says she'll disappear like the Cheshire cat, and she disappears with a Cheshire cat- a black British Shorthair.

Artemis holds tight to her daemon as they leave, and he grows to the size of a large dog to fill her arms. He isn't a dog, though; he's an aardwolf, a relative of the hyena with black striped fur.

When Artemis puts on her green mask and crop top, she dresses her daemon in a costume as well. The disguise makes it difficult to determine what he is, canine or feline or else.

* * *

Zatanna's daemon settled years ago, a white-breasted marten who curls around her shoulders. Zatanna often pointed this out to her father as proof she was grown up, but he never seemed to hear her.

* * *

The team and their daemons, including the new girl Raquel and her purple dragonfly, stood in the cave after returning from the ambush into which they'd followed Cheshire. Conner gripped Wolf's ruff as he admitted, "When I was cloned, only half the DNA was Superman's."

Robin's bird sat still in his cupped hands, a sign that the conversation had his full attention as Conner revealed the shield on his arm that gave him Superman's powers.

"I think I also get angry. Well, angrier." Wolf growled lowly. She'd never approved of him using Luthor's gifts. "I'm sorry," Conner said, to her and to everyone.

"Where did you get those?" Kaldur asked. As always, the daemon on his shoulder revealed little.

"From my human father. Lex Luthor."

Everyone was stunned by this. Dick's daemon flapped her wings in surprise, and Artemis's growled involuntarily. M'gann's changed quickly in agitation, cat to bird to lizard.

"He's summoned me to Santa Prisca," Conner finished darkly. He didn't take well to summons by anyone, especially that snake.

Artemis's daemon rubbed against her leg and exchanged a look with her. Artemis shifted, and reached for the computer's controls. "Ah, listen," she said, and brought up images on the screen. Cheshire with her cat, Sportsmaster with his jackal, Huntress with her leopard cat. The Aardwolf turned his head away from the screen as Artemis explained. "I was so desperate to make sure none of you found out…"

Unlike Conner's announcement, Dick and his daemon had listened to Artemis's without portraying any surprise. "I knew," he said, and smiled reassuringly. "You aren't your family." Artemis looked away. Next to the images of her family, she felt like one more predator in the lineup. But when Dick added, "You're one of us," she smiled.

The others seemed to accept her, too. Wally's hummingbird flitted about the aardwolf's head with affectionate obnoxiousness as Wally propped his elbow on Artemis's shoulder and joked, "Who's next?"

"I am," M'gann said. Her daemon was a large rabbit, and she hugged him to her chest as she admitted she was being blackmailed by Queen Bee. When M'gann decided to show her true Martian form, her daemon gave her a last nuzzle and changed into a snowy owl, which flew to the floor a few feet away to give her space.

Despite all the times they'd witnessed shapeshifting, the team was startled. Everyone but Kaldur and Conner took a step back as she changed. The fur of Artemis's and Zatanna's daemons rose in surprise, and Dick's bird's feathers puffed. M'gann hugged herself as she admitted how afraid she had been for her friends to find out. Her daemon flew back up and into her long, pale arms.

Conner and Wolf came to them without fear. "We've known since we mind-melded last September, in Bialya," Conner told her silently, taking her hand. Gingerly M'gann's daemon hopped down onto Wolf's back, and then to the floor, where he mirrored her by becoming another white wolf.

"Thank you," M'gann tells Conner silently, and he squeezes her fingers. M'gann shrinks, returning to her usual green form, but looking relaxed and comfortable in a new way. Her daemon flicks his tail and paces with a jovial energy that sets him apart from Wolf's stoicism, although they still look identical.

There's a silence as the team wonders who will speak next, but this time Wally's smart enough to keep his mouth shut. When no one else does, Kaldur steps forward for attention. "Thank you all," he says, looking at Conner, Artemis, and M'gann. "We are honored to have your trust." Dick and Wally voiced agreement. "It seems clearer now than ever that this team contains no traitors," Kaldur continued. "There is no mole. I never should have doubted that. Moving forward, our next action seems clear. For months our enemies have been two steps ahead of us, but I believe we have just gained an advantage of our own. We know where they will be."

"Santa Prisca," Dick grinned, already bringing up satellite images on the computer as his daemon hops on his shoulders.

Everyone gathers around as Kaldur outlines how they'll set their trap. There was no mole, only these: a wolf, an aardwolf, a sun bear, a thrush, a hummingbird, a dragonfly, a newt, and a marten. A team.

**Author's Note:**

> All mentioned daemons:  
> Dick- Somali blackbird/thrush  
> Bruce Wayne- giant golden-crowned flying fox (bat)  
> Kaldur- red-bellied newt  
> Wally- tawny-bellied hermit (hummingbird)  
> Conner- Wolf  
> Clark Kent- white dog  
> Marie Logan- Cotton-top tamarin (monkey)  
> Jade Nguyen- black British Shorthair (cat)  
> Artemis- aardwolf  
> Zatanna- white-breasted martin  
> Raquel- roseate skimmer (dragonfly)  
> Lex Luthor- night adder (snake)  
> Lawrence Crock- black-backed jackal  
> Paula Crock- leopard cat


End file.
